Pete Carroll signed a three-year deal to become the next head coach of the Raiders, and when he takes the field for the season opener, he’ll be the oldest head coach in NFL history.
Carroll will turn 74 in September and for anyone thinking he might be slowing down, it doesn’t sound like that was the case in his interview last week.
According to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez, Carroll showed up at the Raiders facility and didn’t leave an ounce of energy or enthusiasm at home.
“I was told as he walked through the facility, when he was there for his in-person interview, there was kind of like this light radiating from him, and he was just kind of bubbly and bouncing off the walls, and there was this energy that really kind of permeated everybody that came in contact with him,” Gutierrez said on Raider Nation Radio’s JT the Brick Show.
“Now, does that translate into wins? Not necessarily, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction for a team that, again, is just looking for some professionalism, looking for something to hang its hat on. And with Pete Carroll, you know exactly what you’re getting as opposed to a lot of the other candidates that were out there.”
For what it’s worth, league insider Josina Anderson said Carroll came well prepared with a plan for what he wants to do in Las Vegas.
“For the better part of two weeks I’ve been hearing about Pete’s pitch, coaches on his tree he was selling he’d bring along, and how he’s been on the line working these back channels,” Anderson posted on X on Friday.
And some believe the Raiders caught a break when couldn’t lure Ben Johnson to Las Vegas.
Popular sports talk host Dan Patrick talked about the Carroll hire on Friday and he thinks the Raiders got the better coach when Johnson chose to go to the Bears.
“I think it’s a great hire. When the Bears were looking at him, you said I could have Pete Carroll or Ben Johnson, I said I would take Pete Carroll,” Patrick said on his show on Friday. “I’ve seen him do this. I don’t know if Ben can do it. I know that everybody talks glowingly about [him]. I want somebody who is a proven commodity. I don’t know if there is a downside to [Carroll]. He’s got the energy of a 32-year-old.”
x: @raidersbeat
I totally agree with Dan Patrick. Nothing against Ben Johnson, he may turn out to be a great HC. But where the Raiders are currently at and where they need to go, a seasoned HC that has been there and done that is just what the doctor ordered. Go Pete and go Raiders!!
Until the Raiders stabilize the front office, they will always be a doormat.
Carol has always been enthusiastic energy high energy and he passes on to his players it’ll be fun to watch he turned everything around on the field and in the office with this new guy at GM in Tom Brady